A front page article in Saturday’s Washington Post starts very simply: “Paulson’s Powers of Persuasion Persuasion Tested.” As Secretary of the Treasury, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, Henry M Paulson Jr. has the credibility, the power, the authority to trigger the requisite emotional response from congress to his request for a $700 billion bailout package. Or does he?

Since credibility and authority are excellent emotional triggers, where did Paulson go wrong? Well, he blew his credibility. How? Two weeks ago he told congressional lawmakers he had no intention of bailing out Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae. A week later he did what he said he would not do. Credibility lost – Authority trigger questionable. The financial bailout delayed.

What trigger held up the process for many in congress? Congress has received tens of thousands of emails and letters from main street constituents relating to the bailout. More than 90% of the writers do not want the bailout to take place. What trigger are they activating? Their own hope trigger – they hope to not have increased taxes estimated at a cost of $8,000 for each working American.

What is congress doing in the next month? They are going home to face constituents. They are activating the hope trigger – they hope to get re-elected. If they go against constituent hope triggers, the constituents will vote for someone they hope will better meet their needs.

Congress will try to get what we need by changing the details of the bailout package to better meet the hopes of constituents. Paulson and Bernanke activated all the authority emotions available, yet their waffling on the Fanny and Freddy issues cost them dearly.

Politics, political power, even the politics of finance is totally based on emotional persuasion. Secretary of State Condoleza Rice put it very simply stating: “ Power is nothing without the power to influence.”

photo credit: wyntuition

Posted: 09|29|08 at 7:26 am. Filed under: Authority Trigger, Business News, Hope Trigger, The 7 Triggers.
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